San Jose State University students take back-to-the-future trip to inauguration

Special to the Mercury News

Posted:
01/19/2009 12:00:00 AM PST

Updated:
01/19/2009 04:30:25 PM PST

Click photo to enlarge

Bobby Bell, left, and Herald Wilson, right, members of the Masonic Lodge, bow their heads during a prayer outside the Mocksville town square at Mocksville, NC on Saturday. After the prayer, Bell led a march with other members of his lodge from the town square to Shiloh Baptist Church for a special Martin Luther King Jr. celebration service.

Think of it as a back-to-the-future road trip. To attend the inauguration of the nation's first African-American president, a group of San Jose students piled into a van and revisited the landmarks of the past — the Southern bridges, churches and lunch counters that were the backdrop of the country's civil rights struggle.

The journey began in Memphis, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr - whose birthday is observed the day before Barack Obama is sworn in - was assassinated. It continued east, stopping at the Tallahatchie River, where Emmett Till was killed for allegedly whistling at a white woman; at a Birmingham church where someone set a bomb, killing four little girls; to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where protesters marching east were met by authorities wielding billy clubs and tear gas in an infamous confrontation that would become known as "Bloody Sunday.

Along their journey, the students talked with the civil rights leaders of the past and present. And as they traveled closer and closer to Washington D.C., where Obama will be sworn in Tuesday, they reflected on how far America has come to reach this new moment in history.

Memphis, Tennesse.: Blood and smokes

The man spoke softly, in a calm and comforting tone, with the slightest hint on a southern gentlemen's accent "...

The man, Reverend Samuel "Billy" Kyles, is the last living person to have stood on the balcony with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that fateful evening in Memphis.

"I remember turning to walk down the steps, I thought goodness gracious you guys lets get going, and as I turned I heard the loudest KA-POW, and the blast and knocked Martin, to the ground.

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"...The cigarette pack and bloodstained handkerchief Dr. King had in his pocket the day of his assassination, is now in Kyles possession. He said he took it "Because Dr. King didn't really like the youth to see him smoking." He said "They're somewhere at my house."

"...Panning the room, not a dry eye was in sight.

— Jade Atkins-Nikolaou, senior

Jackson, Mississippi.: Black and alone

When you're little and you first hear the Emmett Till story, all you can really think is, "how sad."

It isn't until you are older and understand the torture the boy went through and how those evil men mutilated his body, that you can truly feel deeply saddened. Being at the actual site, where Till had once stood and whistled to a Carolyn Bryant, I couldn't even speak "...

I so badly wanted to just kick the door in and see a distorted image of what they saw. I hated that it hadn't been turned into a historical site, or renovated. What I hated even more was that I was terrified to run around the building "...

A truck pulled up to me while we were at the Courthouse where the trial for Emmett Till took place. I was alone because I wanted to get the Delta Inn, or what was left of it, when it was quiet. And by the way, anyone who thinks silence is golden has never been black and alone in rural Mississippi.

— Jade Atkins-Nikolaou, senior

Mississippi: If this land could talk

Prior to our arrival to Mississippi, I had my reservations. Not only is it the home of the Emmett Till murder, but of the murders of CORE voting rights activists Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney, as well as its high involvement with the Ku Klux Klan.

As we drove into Mississippi, a strange mixture of nervousness and being antsy came over me. Scenery full of thousands of barren trees due to the chilly, winter weather, single-lane dirt roads, and dilapidated buildings provoked my attempt to imagine living there 40 years ago. And therein lies the issue: I couldn't. It was impossible for me to fathom living in such a secluded yet spaced out place, especially being born and raised in the lively and overcrowded city of San Francisco, CA.

Mississippi has an eerie feel. One who's trees scream injustice, who's roads are worn from weary feet and who's wind cries for the souls lost during it once dark and gloomy past. If these walls could talk? More like if this land could talk.

— Angela Hughes, senior

Selma, Alabama.: Laying it all on the line

I will admit that I was chicken and could not reach the end of the (Edmund Pettus) bridge. The wind was blowing so hard, the sidewalk was narrow, and the guardrails were at my waist, and I was terrified.

The experience itself overwhelmed me and so did the elements, and I am kind of beating myself up over it now. I wish I would've made it to the other end of the bridge. I got to the arc of the bridge, right where State Troopers used force against marchers on "Bloody Sunday." I did not memorialize the place where there was bloodshed and the events that were a major step in getting blacks the right to vote, which made it possible for me to cast my ballot for Barack Obama this past November "... We took the "Historic Route" from Selma to Montgomery and the whole ride I kept thinking about those that traveled it back in the 60's. We were all cramped in our van, but I thought about those protesters who were cramped in cars, going back and forth between the two cities, fearing for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Laying everything on the line for the simple right of casting a ballot.

— Kachet Jackson-Henderson, junior

Atlanta, Georgia: 'Let them be'

Hank Klibanoff, author of "The Race Beat," told students the stories of reporters during the civil rights moments. One story in particular, was of a reporter at a civil rights peaceful demonstration which turned violent. Klibanoff said the reporter was witnessing police beat and brutalize a young man. The reporter intervened and was immediately after approached by Dr. Martin Luther King, who told him never to do such a thing again.

What you did, did not help because you did that no one will ever know, because you put down your camera, no one will know the injustices of that incident, he said. Klibanoff continued to say that Dr. King told the reporter, "My people are trained to resist violence, let them be they know what they are doing."

— Bianca DeCastro, senior

Atlanta, Georgia: "A reflective day"

As the title says, it was a reflective day. I don't say this because the pools of water leading to the graves of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King were frozen and reflected our images on the ice at the King Center in Atlanta, Georgia. I say this because I felt a connection with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Unless I could invent a time machine to transport me back to history's past, I would never feel as physically close to Dr. King as I felt today.

As I walked through the King Center, I experienced a rush of emotion and chills throughout my body. This rush of emotion also seemed to contain a virtue of patience, reflecting the patience that Dr. King portrayed throughout his life, and patience we've all endured while waiting for Dr. King's dream to become a reality.

— Nick Dovedot, junior

Mocksville, North Carolina: Sankofa

Franklin McCain (one of four men who sat at a Woolworth's lunch counter in 1960 to protest segregation, launching the sit-ins) is a man of great faith and it reflected through many of the things he spoke about. His beliefs, that all men are created equal, and ethics gave him the inner strength to continue his participation in the sit-ins. To prepare for what seemed like a long journey ahead, he knew that remaining silent and keeping in mind the teachings of his heroes, his mother and Gandhi, that he would be okay "... He was willing to consistently, day after day, remain non-violent and silent while white people poured milk and salt on his hair, burned cigarette butts on his neck and be pushed and shoved. With McCain's feet grounded in his beliefs of racial and social equality, he was confident that his actions during that time would one day influence great change in the future of America.

"I knew that we would have a black president someday "... but I was 99% sure that it would never happen in my lifetime". McCain is ecstatic about Barack Obama's presidency. However, he believes that people should not have too many expectations of Obama. "Just because a black man was elected president doesn't mean that we have to stop."

I have always been a woman of great faith and I have internalized each and every experience since day one in Memphis. I, much like Franklin McCain, believe in a peaceful world and that we are capable of living hate-free lives. In the Akan language of Ghana, the term Sankofa means to fetch back in order to move forward. In order for us to truly understand our future, we must go back and reflect on the past.